


The Roommate

by General_Autumn



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College AU, Fluff, M/M, Modern AU, Slow Burn, don't let the tags fool you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-02 07:37:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13313517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/General_Autumn/pseuds/General_Autumn
Summary: Summary: It’s an Modern AU. Not much else to explain here… Roommates? Kinda?





	1. Ready for school? Because I'm not

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I needed to write something that could make me smile or cry so I did both. Hopefully you find it just as enjoyable. I'm a sucker for Modern AU's so I just had to write this. Some random thoughts from last Jedi inspired some parts that will come in later chapters. Anyway, good luck!
> 
> -Autumn  
> 

Hux dropped a suitcase and a container onto his new futon. Here was the start of his new life away from family responsibilities. He ran a hand through his ginger hair thinking about the daunting task of unpacking, and began to organize his side of the room. His new roommate hadn’t shown up yet, but that might be because of how early he was. For only being a freshman, Hux was supposed to have many restrictions when it came to getting a new college dorm, but he was here on scholarship, so none of those restrictions applied. He may have been lucky for only getting stuck with one other roommate instead of seven like the unfortunate levels below him, but that didn’t mean that his room was flawless. 

It looked greasy; it probably had something to due with the people who lived in the room before him. It also didn’t smell too pleasant, which might have something to do with the stains on the walls. College dorms aren’t as flashy as everyone makes them out to be. Well, do people actually make them sound flashy? Hux wouldn’t know; he doesn’t talk to many people outside of his family and the children of his father’s friends. Though, he never really like those children either. 

It was almost an hour before a knock came on the door. Surprised, Hux answered it. When he opened the door, a tall dark haired man was standing there with his arms filled with bags.

“Thanks, I didn’t feel like setting everything down just to grab my keys.” The tall male said flying into the room and setting his things on the floor. He turned around to face Hux, “Hi, my name’s Ben.”

Hux was almost speechless; he couldn’t believe how this man looked. Ben must have never cared for his appearance before because he was wearing sweatpants and a decently large t-shirt. It didn’t seem fitting for a man like Ben. He could look a lot better if he just took time to look nice like a decent human being. Hux nodded, “Nice to meet you. I’m Hux.”

“Hux? What kind of first name is that?” Ben asked, squinting with his face up in confusion. 

“It’s not. I just don’t like my first name, so I don’t use it,” Hux stated, and Ben shook his head. 

“Well, I don’t see how anything could be worse than Hux.” 

“You would be amazed,” Hux said and Ben laughed. Hux froze, something in Ben’s smile threw his stomach into butterflies, and he started to laugh along with him.  
Ben started to fill the room up with all his bags and when he finished Ben turned to Hux, “So, you're here for Mechatronics?”

“Umm no, actually, you could say I’m here for Business.” Hux shrugged and Ben squinted his face again, looking more confused than before. 

“That doesn’t sound right. If we are sharing a room, we should be in a similar program.” Ben pulled out a slip of paper and broke out in a loud exclamation, “You have to be kidding me!”

Hux lifted a brow, “What is it?”

“I went to the wrong room. I must be the one right across from you, I just got all my stuff here.” Ben shook his head in anger and started picking his bags up.

“Here, let me help you move your stuff.” Hux offered and Ben smiled and said thanks. 

Once they only had a couple bags left, another male came by Hux’s room. He watched Ben walk out the room with his bags and looked a bit confused but asked, “Let me guess, he went to the wrong room?”

Hux nodded, “Yeah, right after he brought everything here.”

The shorter male laughed, “Of course.” 

Hux grabbed the last bag and walked to Ben’s new room and handed it him. Ben set it down, “Thanks. Sucks that we are in different programs. You wouldn’t happen to be taking any regular courses, right?”

“Only a couple. English and Physics, I think.” Hux shrugged and Ben nodded and looked at his piece of paper again. 

“We might have a class together so hopefully I’ll still be able to see you around.” Ben laughed.

Something in Hux’s heart exploded and he smiled, “Well, we do live right next door to each other.”

Ben couldn’t hold a smile away from that comment, “You do have a point, and considering how clean the room was when I walked into it, I might be going over there more often because I don’t see my room staying nice for too long.”  
Hux frown, “Why is that?”

“I tend to get into my work and I don’t sleep. I need to be able to walk away from it but can’t if it’s in the same room.” 

“What kind of work do you do?” Hux asked. 

“I like to make prototype machines. I also like making computer programs. All kinds of stuff.” Ben started to rifle through his bags and showed Hux what looked like a pile of junk, but apparently to Ben it was the start of a hand that will write for you. Hux told him it might be useless because in college you type your papers, not write them, but Ben just shrugged and smiled. “I just want to see if I can do it.”

“That’s interesting,” Hux laughed, “Well let me know if you make anything else that might be unique.”

“No problem. It will be nice to actually have someone to show my inventions to anyway.” Ben ensured.

Hux couldn’t help but let his next words slip out of his mouth, “You’re welcome to come to my room anytime to take a break.”

Ben laughed and said, “Might want to check with your roommate first.”

“I will when he gets here.”

“He’s been in your room since I walked passed him earlier.” Ben pointed out and Hux’s face went into shock.

“I didn’t even realize he was going to be my roommate! I need to introduce myself!” Hux hurried out of Ben’s room but still heard him say good luck. Hux opened the door to his room to see the man he walked past earlier when he was helping out with Ben’s bags, “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, I’m Hux.”

The guy smiled and held out a hand, “Nice to meet you Hux. I’m Poe. Poe Dameron.”

Hux relaxed a bit and noticed that Poe must have just finished unpacking because all of his stuff was neatly gathered and organized on his side of the room. 

“Well, you unpack rather quickly.” Was all he could manage to say. 

Poe smiled, “I’m used to moving around a lot.” 

Hux nodded, “So, are you going for business as well?”

“You bet. I plan on being a CEO one day.” Poe said and Hux nearly slapped himself.

“You’re joking!” Hux said in disbelief, “So do I. What company?”

Poe looked shell shocked, “Umm, something large like Apple I would hope.”

Hux couldn’t stop staring at him shocked, “That’s crazy. Good to know because I am basically doing the same thing.”

“Great!” Poe laughed, “2 minutes in and we already have a lot in common and a reason to hate each other.”

Hux laughed at that one, “Well, you are not wrong.”

Poe shook his head with a smile, “So, the guy who ran out earlier, did he finally find the right room?”

“Yes, but if you don’t mind me asking, is it alright if he comes over here to visit? I mean, just so he can take a break from his work every once in a while.” Hux asked.

“I don’t see why not. I have no problems if you bring a friend or two but keep in mind this room is still small so please don’t try to get too crazy.” Poe smiled and Hux went to comment but Poe put his hands up, “I’m joking. You don’t seem like that kind of guy. Just remember this discussion when I bring a friend here.”

Hux nodded and went to sit on his futon, “So where do you come from, Dameron?”

Poe sat next to him but surprisingly Hux didn’t make a comment about it being his bed, “Well I currently live in a small town in Alabama, so coming to Florida wasn’t so big of a deal. How about you?”

“Oh just Arkansas. So this wasn’t too bad of a drive but it was still long.” Hux shrugged, “I honestly just wanted something a little bit farther from home.”

“You just summarized the real reason anyone goes away for college.” Poe stated and Hux just kind of nodded.

“What’s your schedule?” Poe asked and Hux just gave him his piece of paper. Poe nodded and laughed, “Okay so we have a lot of classes together, that’s great. At least we can remind each other of homework assignments.”

Hux highly doubted he would forget any assignments and even knew that he would finish them right when they were assigned, but didn’t make a comment about it. Hux looked over more of his introduction papers and turned to Poe, “Are you on a meal plan as well?”

“Sadly, yes. But hopefully after this year I can get an apartment to make my own food but I also know you need more people to room with, so if all goes well, mind rooming with me again?” Poe didn’t even hesitate to ask. 

Hux laughed, “It might be really early to ask that but I don’t mind so long as I can handle you in this dorm.” 

Poe smirked and went over to his own futon, “You may have a point; I am a lot to handle.”

Hux shook his head; What an interesting start to his college life.


	2. I Rather Nap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized this chapter is longer and I'm probably going to continue to make chapters longer as I go. Hopefully you aren't disappointed. I'm having someone help me fix this mess of a story later but just wanted to post something. Hopefully with their help I can make something of this story and some of my others along the way.
> 
> -Autumn

“Hux, turn it off!” Poe yelled with his pillow covering his face. Hux’s alarm for their first class has buzzed and Hux had already clicked the button. Within 10 minutes Hux was already dressed and ready to walk out the door.

“You know, if you don’t get up now then you’ll miss out on breakfast.” Hux affirmed and Poe swatted a hand at him. 

“We have our first class together. Can you just grab me a Poptart and give it to me during class?” Poe mumbled sleepily. Hux just agreed and left. 

When class actually started at 9am, Hux was seated near the front by the door. He quickly learned as a child that it was easier to leave the class if you were by the door and you could still be a teacher’s favorite sitting in the front. His perfect spot to achieving success. Five minutes passed the beginning of class and Poe showed up. 

“Did you bring my Poptart?” Poe asked and Hux handed it to him. Poe smiled but looked around sheepishly and muttered to Hux, “Thanks, but on my way here I saw an accident. I think it was our teacher, I have no idea.”

“What kind of accident?” Hux inquired, “And how would you even know it was our teacher?’

“He’s not here.” Poe shrugged, “I saw a teacher who was hit by a student driving one of the school’s golf carts. It wasn’t a pretty scene, but I’m sure he will be fine.”

“How bad could you even get hit by a go kart anyway?” Hux rolled his eyes. 

Poe laughed, “Actually I was surprised, but let's just say he was bleeding.” Hux just shook his head and a teacher walked into the room. 

“Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to be here.” Their teacher set all of his stuff down and Hux gave Poe a looked that said ‘Wow he looks like he really needs medical attention’. Poe shrugged him off and pulled out his notebook, scribbled something down and passed it over to Hux. 

‘It may have not been him but I did see a teacher get wiped out this morning.’-P  
‘Not saying you didn’t but you just quickly jumped to a conclusion that didn’t make sense.’-H  
‘It made sense! Come on, you can’t tell me that you wouldn’t think the same thing if you saw a teacher wipe out!’-P  
‘Why would I? There’s a lot of teachers that work here.’-H  
‘You’re just saying that to make me feel stupid.’-P  
‘Maybe’-H

Poe smiled and they continued the class period only half paying attention and the other half writing notes because who pays attention in a management class? Lots of people, but it was the first day so it didn’t matter. All they were doing was going over the syllabus. 

‘You gave me a strawberry poptart.’-P  
‘And?’-H  
‘Strawberry is great.’-P  
‘Good because that was one of the only flavors they had.’-H  
‘Sure you didn’t grab it because you knew I liked it?’-P  
‘You're so weird. Of course not, I don’t even know you.’-H  
‘Hi, I’m Poe Dameron. Nice to meet you.’-P  
‘Smartass.’-H  
‘So what’s your buddies name?’-P

Hux paused for a moment to think about Ben and he flushed. Ben wasn’t really his buddy, they just met Friday but the idea of being Ben’s friend seemed rather… interesting. 

‘Buddy? I don’t really know him either. His name is Ben Solo.’-H  
‘Really? His mom must be Leia Organa. She married Han Solo. He must be their son.’-P  
‘I don’t really know who they are or why they are relevant to this conversation but okay.’-H  
‘Leia Organa is a Senator for Alabama and her husband is kinda like a war hero. A pilot in the army.’-P  
‘Fascinating.’-H  
‘Hey, it may not seem interesting to you but I kinda look up to Organa. She will bend to no one.’-P  
‘That doesn’t sound like a bad role model to have.’-H  
‘Damn right.’-P

The class period was supposed to be 2 hours but ended shortly because the teacher got tired of explaining the syllabus. They were told they would be getting a homework assignment on Wednesday and were off to their next class. After their second class, Geology, which was only an hour and a half, they had a lunch break. For both classes all they did was write notes back and forth because it didn’t seem like any of the teachers planned on doing anything productive that day. 

“Okay, I have no idea how I’m going to survive this meal plan. This food is-” Poe rambled but was cut off when Ben came over and sat next to them. He brought a person with him. 

“What’s up Hux.” Ben said and nodded to both Poe and Hux, “This is my roomate Finn, aka your other neighbor.”

“Hi Finn.” Poe smile and Finn nodded to him in acknowledgement, “So you guys having fun in any of your classes?”

“It’s syllabus day, not much fun to have.” Finn said and Poe laughed. Something seemed off with Poe that Hux couldn’t put his finger on but he ignored it.

“Wait, were you the guy that helped the teacher who got hit by the golf cart this morning?” Poe asked and Finn nodded, “See, Hux?! There was a teacher hit by a golf cart! I’m not making crazy assumptions! I told you!”

“Yes but it wasn’t our teacher, Dameron.” Hux crossed his arms.

Ben laughed, “He saw Rey hit Mr. Hampton?”

“It sounds like it. She felt so bad, but somebody messed with the steering and gas pedals so it’s not really her fault.” Finn aired indifferently. 

“What’s everyone’s next class?” Poe posed. 

“I’m taking a culinary class for one of my art credits.” Finn uttered.

Poe nearly came out of his seat, “Really?! Me too! I thought I was the only one who did that.”

Finn and Poe started talking to each other that they decided on that class because they just wanted to eat the food they made and Ben turned to Hux. “Please tell me that you have an english class next.”

Hux smiled at that, “Yes I do.”

“Thank goodness, I don’t think I could sit through that alone.” Ben muttered. 

“It's only an hour and a half. It honestly can't be that bad.” Hux pointed out.

“That’s probably because you might be good at english. I’m not.” Ben grumbled.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine. I can always help you.” Hux suggested and Ben couldn’t help but smile at that. Poe decided to point out that after the semester ends that he and Finn could make their meals instead of continuing with the meal plan. Everyone agreed on that.

Everyone continued to joke around until it was time for class and everyone went their ‘almost’ separate ways. As they walked to class, Hux and Ben talked about different objects you would need to survive in the wild. Ben believed duck tape would be the answer. Hux, on the other hand, thought you would need a knife. Once they made it to their room, they sat up front, even though Ben protested.

When 2 o’clock came around, the teacher strolled in balled up with excitement, “Hello everyone, my name is Professor Witkin. I will be your English instructor for the semester.”

Hux was beginning to wonder why almost every teacher introduced themselves this way. Maybe it was one of their job requirements? The professor continued to give out first day handouts and explained the requirements of the class. Hux pulled out his notebook, wrote something, and handed it to Ben. 

‘Make anything interesting yet?’ -H

Ben looked at the paper and smiled. He was scribbling down furiously and Hux worried that the teacher would notice. It’s not like the teacher was saying anything important enough to write down so Ben almost seemed like a madman. Ben put his pencil down and looked over what he drew and beamed with satisfaction. Hux grabbed the notebook from his hand and looked over at what Ben was so determined to draw, only to feel his throat get caught. He couldn’t believe the detail Ben had in his work, not to mention his artistic ability. He looked over at Ben who was grinning and Hux almost wanted to punch him but didn’t know why. The picture showed each gear that Ben had used, where it would go on the machine, and how it would work. Hux could only guess the machine had something to do with an engine, but to what, he had no idea. Then he noticed Ben wrote something underneath his intense drawing.

‘My latest addition, a new engine run by water.’- B

Hux rolled his eyes. There was obviously going to be a lot of flaws with Ben’s work, but at least he seemed excited about it. 

‘Impressive. How is it that you don’t work for a company to improve their technology? Surely you could even own an industry of your own one day.’-H 

Hux went to hand him the notebook but Ben grabbed it way too eagerly out of his hands. Hux tried to listen just a bit to see if the teacher was going to start saying anything important as he waited for Ben’s response. 

“I want to let you all know that unlike all the other teachers in the english department, I like to give an extra credit assignment that is due at the end of the semester. It's up to you if you decide to do it or not. The assignment is more of a creative writing assignment. You get to write about something that's on your mind or about someone important to you. You can decide. I’m very lenient with this assignment, so don’t feel bad if you have to take your time on it. If you are interested, let me know and we can discuss what it is you chose to write about. I can even proof read your assignment before you turn it in so you can get full extra credit points without losing some to spelling and grammar. I hope some of you consider this opportunity because it could save your grade at the end of the semester.” Hux had already wrote in his agenda to ask about the extra credit and Ben passed him the notebook. The teacher gave one last comment about the extra credit that Hux was still listening to, “But I do have one more requirement of you that makes people turn away from this assignment. Sure, plenty of you don’t mind writing a long paper about something you care about, but if you do this assignment, I want you to read it in front the class on our final day, and that is how we will end this semester.” Hux made a note of this and went back to writing to Ben.

‘Actually I do have a very impressive job that’s helping me pay for school right now. If it were up to me I wouldn’t be here but my company decided I needed a degree to prove I’m not an idiot.’-B  
‘That’s unfortunate. Maybe you could write your extra credit paper about how unfair it is for you to be in school right now.’-H  
‘Well, you’re not wrong. What would you write you paper on then? How lucky it was that you met an amazing genius like me?’-B  
‘That would be a very short paper. Not much to be impressed over either.’-H  
‘Pfft. There’s plenty to write about me. I’m tempted to dare you to write one of your best papers ever and it has to be about me.’-B  
‘What will I get if I do?’-H  
‘Idk, what do you want?’-B  
‘I want you to build me something.’-H  
‘I’m listening.’-B  
‘I don’t know what yet…’-H  
‘That’s fine, we can figure that out afterwards. But that better be one good paper.’-B  
‘Deal.’-H

After class, the two stayed to ask about the extra credit. Ben said his paper would be about his feelings toward school; Hux said he would write a paper about a friend of his. The teacher marked his approval and they were on their way. 

It was close to 4 o’clock when everyone met up again. Finn and Poe told their tale of how they nearly destroyed their kitchen on the first day and that their teacher wasn’t too happy with them. Ben and Hux said they made a deal during class for Hux’s story on Ben and Ben’s future project for Hux. Since they had an hour to blow before 5pm, everyone decided to grab something to eat. Then Poe and Hux went their separate ways as Ben and Finn went to their last class of the day. 

As they walked, Hux turned to Poe, “Please tell me you learned something useful in that culinary class. This food here will be the death of me.”

Poe chuckled, “So far? Not much. We just talked about lab safety. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll be useful at some point.”

“Too bad our dorms don’t accommodate us with a kitchen of our own.” Hux spat.

“We would need an apartment for that.” Poe nudged, “I’m telling you, next year we really need to do that.” 

“Still only known you for a couple of days.” Hux stated.

“Yeah but some people get married after only knowing each other for a couple of days.” Poe pointed out.

“Yes, that would be fairytales,” Hux pointed out and Poe laughed. After eating, they went to their last class which was Algebra, which was just another class of writing notes back and forth, and of course, their Algebra teacher blessed them with homework. Hux was just fortunate that he only had one class tomorrow and that was at 5 in the afternoon so he was able to sleep in. 

After what felt like forever, their algebra was finally over and they went back to their dorm. Poe landed on his futon with a thud. Hux rolled his eyes. “Try not to destroy the room.”

“As if I could destroy it any more than when we got here.” Poe smirked, “I say today was a good start to classes.”

“Hm, could have been better.” Hux threw out.

“How?” Poe asked.

“If our teachers just said we got an ‘A’ for just showing up to the class.” Hux laid onto his futon. 

“Hux, I have a question for you.” Poe said out of the blue. Hux looked at him puzzled but Poe was looking at the door, “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Well, what is it?” Hux was more confused and almost terrified to find out. 

Poe finally turned to look at him, “How were you raised?”

Hux sat there shocked, “What? What kind of question is that? You had me freaking out for a second. I was raised as an only child in Arkansas, had a large house. That kind of thing.”

Poe laughed and coughed to clear his throat, “No, I mean, how do I put this” Poe hesitated before asking “You're not against gay people, right?”

Hux froze again in shock and in the matter of seconds he burst out laughing. Now it was Poe’s turn to be shocked and his face was somewhat flushed. Hux tried containing himself, “I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard ever, in my life.”

Poe’s ears were burning red, “I.. umm..”

“No, no. I’m laughing for different reasons. Don’t worry, I’m not homophobic.” Hux was still smiling and Poe just nodded. 

“Good… I guess.” Poe just shook his head and sheepishly asked, “So you wouldn’t be bothered if I were to tell you I’m gay?”

“So long as you don’t mind me being gay, then we are good.” Hux shrugged and Poe’s face went from being completely confused to a full out grin. 

“Okay now I feel stupid for not noticing it.” Poe mused.

Hux crossed his arms in defense, “What, am I supposed to have a flag over my head or something?”

Poe chuckled, “No, you're just unreadable sometimes.” 

Hux sprawled out on his futon, “What even brought this up anyway?”

“Finn.” Poe shrugged.

“I should have guessed.” Hux laughed again, and Poe glared.

“Am I really that obvious?” Poe asked defensively.

“No but he’s the only person you really talked to today outside of Ben and I.” Hux dismissed. 

Poe nodded and rolled across his futon, “Just don’t go blabbing to Finn that I thinks he’s sweet.”

“I think I would have to punch my mouth before the word sweet even came out.” Hux spat and Poe burst out laughing. 

“So I take it you’re not one for cutesy nicknames?” Poe grinned and Hux glowed at him. 

“Call me something cute, and I might have to cut your balls off with a butter knife.” Hux stated and Poe chuckled so hard he almost fell on the floor. 

“Okay, okay. I think the name ‘Hux’ was punishment enough for you.” Poe leaned into his pillow, “Though I can’t figure out why you would only go by your last name.”

Hux was quiet and Poe took it as a sign to not bring up Hux’s name. Must have been a sore spot. A few minutes went by and Hux was already diving into his math homework for the week. Poe decided to follow in suit and the two finished close to 10 at night. 

“Thanks for your help on problem 15.” Poe said as he rolled into his blankets.

“It was a ridiculous question that had nothing to do with Algebra and I have no idea why he assigned it to us, but no problem.” Hux shrugged and turned off his light on his small light stand. 

“Yeah, just so long as I don’t have your stupid buzzer waking me up tomorrow, I will be fine.” Poe said sleepily, “Because we didn’t even have school on Saturday and Sunday but you still had it go off.” 

Hux knew he wasn’t going to hear the end of that conversation. Him and Poe both showed up on Friday and were able to settle in over the weekend. (Some colleges let you settle in a week in advance but for some reason the school had a setback this semester.) Hux was used to waking up to an alarm but didn’t care too much to ask Poe’s opinion on it. Now Poe won’t let it go. 

“Goodnight Dameron.”

“Night Hux.”


End file.
